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Post by riverside on Sept 25, 2023 19:22:50 GMT
The complaints were from passengers waiting in Bolton Bus Station and elsewhere. They were talking about their actual experience of the service this morning, rather than just having a general moan about the unreliability of buses.
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Post by greenboy on Sept 25, 2023 19:25:37 GMT
The report on this evening's BBC Northwest Tonight about the new Bee Network was not particularly complimentary. Quite a focus on teething problems and many interviews with complaining passengers. Hopefully problems will soon be sorted as I wish the project well. Quite a lot of negative comments on social media too. What complaints were people making? I’m intrigued to know if they were valid complaints or just good for nothing moaners with nothing better to do 😂 Here's a sample... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tfgm-bosses-apologise-bee-network-27781417
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Post by TB123 on Sept 28, 2023 12:44:21 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 5, 2023 12:06:58 GMT
Stagecoach Manchester has made some changes to its senior management, to reflect the transition into the franchised Bee Network.
Lee Wasnidge, formerly Stagecoach Manchester Managing Director, becomes Managing Director - Franchising Mobilisation. His job will be to oversee Stagecoach's mobilisation for Stage 2 of franchising in North Manchester, which goes live on 24th March 2024. Stagecoach will take over Go North West's Queens Road Depot and First's Oldham Depot as well as retaining its own Middleton Depot (First will retain a presence around Rochdale where it has a 40-vehicle contract). A number of vehicles will transfer from the current Stagecoach Manchester fleet and some of these are already appearing in Bee Network livery. Lee Wasnidge will also be in charge of developing a blueprint for future franchising, with Stagecoach no doubt keeping an eye over possible franchising in the neighbouring Liverpool City Region, where Stagecoach has a major presence.
Rob Jones, currently with Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire, will become Managing Director of the existing Stagecoach Manchester South business and will oversee the day-to-day operations. The South Manchester Franchises do not come into effect until January 2025 and the successful operators have yet to be announced. Rob Jones will also oversee the electrification of Stockport Depot and the procurement of 170 Volvo ZSL electrics, for which Government funding has been agreed. These will be sold on or leased to another operator if Stagecoach does not retain the main franchise.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Oct 7, 2023 11:40:08 GMT
I bought a bus day ticket yesterday on a bus in Stockport, Belle Vue route 392. It had Bee Network on it even though this area is not parto f Bee Network yet.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Oct 15, 2023 17:55:13 GMT
I looked at a few timetables to get some ideas for my late November or early December daytrip, likely just Manchester central & Eccles at this stage.
Anyway, the timetables on the TfGM or Bee Network website just refer to Bee Network, not the operator in question.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Oct 18, 2023 22:02:20 GMT
But then what happens when Go Ahead for example win the entire BK tranche and then Stagecoach refuses to sell BK? Guessing something similar to how things work in Manchester with compulsory purchases of garages. But this is going off topic on the LT thread so maybe best for elsewhere. Certainly correct, moving it here. Wasn't there actually a case where Stagecoach refused the sale of their garage up north? I'm not sure if there are legal grounds to make a compulsory purchase. It certainly will be interesting to see how the forthcoming Manchester tranches go, especially with the Wilmslow Road routes up.
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 19, 2023 8:45:38 GMT
Guessing something similar to how things work in Manchester with compulsory purchases of garages. But this is going off topic on the LT thread so maybe best for elsewhere. Certainly correct, moving it here. Wasn't there actually a case where Stagecoach refused the sale of their garage up north? I'm not sure if there are legal grounds to make a compulsory purchase. It certainly will be interesting to see how the forthcoming Manchester tranches go, especially with the Wilmslow Road routes up. The powers of compulsory purchase would have been legislated for under the Bus Franchising Act 2017 which paved the way for franchising and gave it legal status. Stagecoach and Rotala did seek a judicial review of the Greater Manchester franchising but the High Court ruled that it had been lawfully carried out.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Oct 29, 2023 17:06:03 GMT
Guessing something similar to how things work in Manchester with compulsory purchases of garages. But this is going off topic on the LT thread so maybe best for elsewhere. Certainly correct, moving it here. Wasn't there actually a case where Stagecoach refused the sale of their garage up north? I'm not sure if there are legal grounds to make a compulsory purchase. It certainly will be interesting to see how the forthcoming Manchester tranches go, especially with the Wilmslow Road routes up. What you are probably thinking of was when Nexus (Tyne & Wear PTE) devised an extreme form of partnership involving the likely franchising of services. Stagecoach allegedly threatened to close their entire operation in Newcastle, make the staff redundant, redeploy the vehicles (probably to replace older vehicles anywhere) and sell the depots for redevelopment. The aim would have been to make it almost impossible for Nexus to procure a suitable level of bus service.
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Post by southlondon413 on Nov 2, 2023 12:11:28 GMT
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Nov 25, 2023 21:48:50 GMT
I did sample the Bee Network in Bolton & Wigan today, so did not keep to areas near Manchester as initially intended.
There was proportionately more yellow in Wigan than Bolton. I think this is because the Diamond operation at Bolton was bought out, with many vehicles passing to Go North West. Although quite a few have been painted yellow, plenty have not and not all that many repainted vehicles have been refurbished.
In contrast, alternative vehicles needed to be sourced for Wigan as Stagecoach were not handing any over for their successors. More of the 73 reg E200-MMCs are thus at Wigan than Bolton.
While my StreetDeck with Go North West had not been touched internally, my one with Diamond Bus had been given yellow grabrails. Oddly, the ticket scanner did not recognise the bar code from the Go North West bus!
Several former GA London WVLs are on route 8 (Bolton-Manchester), my ride being GNW 3280. It had not been touched internally but was still elegant. Former GA London Es seemed largely to work route 9 (Wigan - Leigh, Higher Folds). Some including my ride 3117 had been refurbished and given TfGM Metrolink seats. A subtlety I noticed was that the handles on top of the seats were still GA London yellow but the grabrails were in Bee Network yellow. These "clashing" yellows gave the game away that these are old buses!
There are still some other GA E200-MMCs from Dorset and Gateshead on loan. With 60 new E200-MMCs due early next year these loans shouldn't be for much longer. Many of the new BYD double-deckers were in service. Good routes are the long 36/37 into Manchester via Walkden. The coincidence of these route numbers matching long-term GA London routes was not lost on me! My ride was 2047 (on route 36). Coincidentally, this bus is pictured in the new edition of Buses magazine!
I saw a couple of refurbished Solo SRs in Wigan. Nice idea, but not worth the ride during the short daylight hours of November.
While I am not completely looking forward to everything being standardised with TfGM Metrolink interiors in the medium term, the opportunities for stability is for the best in terms of more effective public transport.
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Post by VMH2452 on Nov 25, 2023 23:22:18 GMT
There are still some other GA E200-MMCs from Dorset and Gateshead on loan. With 60 new E200-MMCs due early next year these loans shouldn't be for much longer. Many of the loaned vehicles have been returned to their original operators now that the majority of the 52 E200MMCs have arrived and are in service. I don’t think GNW have any more E200s on order. Diamond have 67 E200s on order for delivery starting next year but I don’t think there is anything more for GNW.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Nov 26, 2023 8:39:27 GMT
There are still some other GA E200-MMCs from Dorset and Gateshead on loan. With 60 new E200-MMCs due early next year these loans shouldn't be for much longer. Many of the loaned vehicles have been returned to their original operators now that the majority of the 52 E200MMCs have arrived and are in service. I don’t think GNW have any more E200s on order. Diamond have 67 E200s on order for delivery starting next year but I don’t think there is anything more for GNW. Oh yes, those remaining E200-MMCs due are for Diamond rather than Go North West. Even so, there were still a few E200 loans out and about yesterday. I guess a few new ones have yet to arrive and a few delivered are yet to be commissioned for service.
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Post by wirewiper on Jan 5, 2024 8:50:59 GMT
First is investing £750,000 in improvements to the Transdev depot in Corporation Street, Rochdale which will be the base for the services operated as part of the second tranche of Bee Network, which commences in March. The depot will have enhanced engineering facilities including a double-height workshop bay. First is also recruiting around 30 drivers and 12 engineers, who will supplement the employees transferring over from Transdev in March. The depot will operate 60 buses on more than 30 routes in the Rochdale and Bury areas, plus six school services, with the potential to operate up to 90 buses in the future. First's existing Oldham depot will transfer to Stagecoach when the second tranche of Bee Network routes begins in March. www.route-one.net/news/first-bus-to-invest-750000-in-rochdale-depot/
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Post by VMH2452 on Jan 16, 2024 20:34:04 GMT
This was posted on RailUK forums by user GCH100 here
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